Biography

Janet Graham was born near Consett, Co. Durham, in 1948. She studied Composition with James Iliff at the Royal Academy of Music (1966-71), where she was awarded several prizes for composition, and later studied with Elisabeth Lutyens. She married the organist Philip Deane in 1973. During the 1970s and 80s she worked in London and Hertfordshire as a composer and piano teacher and many of her compositions were performed in London and elsewhere. Several pieces were broadcast on Radio 3 and other radio stations, and she was one of the composers selected for the BBC Young Composers' Forum in 1978. In 1989-90 she trained as a music therapist at the Nordoff Robbins Centre in London.

In her career as a music therapist she worked with most client groups, including people with neurological conditions, mental health issues, dementia, learning disability and autism.

After many years of working as music therapist for the NHS in Hertfordshire and music therapist and course tutor for Nordoff Robbins, Janet returned to the North East in 2007 as Head Music Therapist for Nordoff Robbins North East and now lives at Bishop Middleham in County Durham. Since retiring from music therapy in June 2013 she began composing again. In a voluntary capacity Janet plays the organ at St Michael's Church, Bishop Middleham and leads a bereavement support service.